If She Should Ask
by WhenFuuMetMugen
Summary: The trio is back with a new adventure: Find Fuu's kidnapped fiance before her wedding. But Mugen soon realizes that he isn't about the share Fuu with another man. Can he convince her to change her mind and stay with him? Better Summary l8r. MuFuu. R
1. Prologue

Prologue –

Mugen watched Fuu while she slept. He watched the dim firelight cast dancing shadows on her smooth, pale skin, noted how her kimono had become some-what loose, and how her lips were half-open. The fingers of one hand lay open, palms facing up, her other hand lay across her stomach. Her chest moved slowly up and then back down, pausing once, then starting again. She was dreaming, he figured, probably a sweet dream. His eyes fell away from her gradually and to the bottle of sake in his hand. Was this the reason why he was so curious about his female companion? He set the bottle down, accidently a little hastily, and watched as it fell to its side, spilling the rest of the liquid.

Mugen looked back at Fuu, still sleeping, still clueless that she was being watched. Her lips moved and a sigh escaped, and he recognized the sound. She had said his name. Softly, pleadingly, just as she did when she was in danger and Mugen could not leave her plea unanswered. He never could, no matter how hard he tried.

Hesitantly he crawled away from the tree, forgetting about the spilled bottle of sake, forgetting that Jin lay sleeping only a few feet away, and to Fuu. Rough, cold fingertips touched the softness of her cheeks, and he knelt down, now smelling the sake on his own breath, and kissed her.

Swiftly his head jerked up, a reaction to the feel of his unworthy lips on her innocent ones, and then he remembered the reason that the three of them were together again in the first place. His job was to keep her safe while she looked for her…

Fiancé.

A/N: If you want more. You must Review! ^.^ I cannot wait to continue this!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Damn.

He had been so close. Close enough to feel the warmth of her body, the breath from her lip. Close enough that her scent intoxicated him, driving him mad. He had even kissed her…if that could be called a kiss. But even though he had been so close, and had kissed her, he had backed away so quickly, that the thought of it all now made him sick.

Mugen had learned long ago, back when he was nothing more than a boy, that life never seemed to go the way that one expected it too. All along, he had thought that somehow he'd come to terms with that. He had been sadly mistaken. The feelings that he had, he couldn't explain, nor did he wish to have them explained to him. He didn't want to know.

Frustrated, he sighed and leaned back against the tree, looking back down at Fuu. _Stupid bitch, _he thought, _she doesn't know what the hell she's gotten herself into. _He looked down at the empty bottle and frowned, disgustedly.

"Mugen…"

Her small voice made him glance back up from the bottle. She had noticed that her kimono had become some-what loose and hurriedly fixed it before stretching. It was still dark, and the fire had died, but he could see her well enough in the pale light from the moon.

"Go back to sleep," he mumbled.

"But…I could have sworn that someone just now…" Fuu started, but she quickly stopped and looked at him funny.

"Someone what…"

"Someone kissed me."

Mugen shrugged and looked around. "Well I wouldn't kiss ya cuz your breasts are too small, and I didn't see anybody else do it, so you must have been dreaming about whoever that guy is…"

"Yoshiro…"

"Yea…that guy," Mugen said, getting annoyed.

"Oh," Fuu said, and then she lay back down, staring at the ashes from the fire. "I thought maybe…"

"Just go to sleep," Mugen ordered.

Fuu closed her eyes and turned so that her back faced Mugen. "Goodnight, Mugen."

"Goodnight, Fuu."

But Mugen did not go to sleep. Instead, he picked up the empty bottle, stood and stretched. There was a spring not too far from where they had camped. Since they would be moving on in the morning, Mugen figured that he might as well fill the bottle up with water before hand, because he knew he would be getting thirsty, and even though it wasn't sake, water was the next best thing.

He yawned as he made his way from the campsite, smirking when he heard Fuu mumbled in her sleep. For a moment, he wondered if he should stay and get the water in the morning, but he told himself that Jin was there, and that he was just as good of a samurai as any of them would ever be. Fuu would be safe. That was really all he cared about, even though he went around it occasionally.

When he arrived at the spring, he knelt down and cleaned the bottle out. Then he filled it with water. Everything was going smoothly, considering that it was probably two in the morning and he hadn't had any sleep since the beginning of his journey with Fuu and Jin. He smirked and began back, when a screamed pierced the cold morning air.

"Damn it!" He cursed, dropping the bottle and bolting back to the campsite as quickly as he could. What the hell could have happened to Fuu during the five minutes he was gone? And what about Jin….he was supposed to be able to protect her, too.

When he arrived, Fuu was pretty much lying in the fetal position, crying and cursing, and Jin was standing above her, his hand on the handle of his sword, but a confused looked on his face.

"What the hell is going on here?" Mugen asked, glancing around again. "Why the hell are you screaming this freaking early in the morning?"

"Something has my wrist!" Fuu shrieked. "Get it off, Mugen! Get the damn thing off…"

Mugen looked down at her wrist and smirked. She had gotten bitten by a worthless garden snake. He had dropped the damn bottle somewhere along the path from the spring to here, had run all the way back prepared to kill someone, and she had gotten bitten by a garden snake?

"How the hell did you survive the whole time you were away from us, Fuu?" He asked, kneeling down beside her. "I mean…with luck like this, you should be dead."

"I dooon't knooow! Just get it off meeee…."

Mugen reached down and took her small, smooth wrist in his rough hand and with the other, squeezed the snake until it opened its mouth and released her. Then he dropped her wrist and stood, taking the snake away from her.

"Mugen…"

"What is it?" he asked her, dropping the snake somewhere in the grass.

"My wrist is bleeding," Fuu whimpered.

"Do I look like a fuckin' doctor?" Mugen mumbled, coming back over to her.

She didn't answer, and shrugged, turning so that her back faced him. He grumbled and reached out to yank her arm.

"Lemme see your wrist," he ordered.

Fuu didn't reply.

"Damn it, you stupid….just let me see it," he griped. "You don't want to bleed to death, do ya?"

"It would put me in a better predicament then the one I'm in now," Fuu answered. "Besides, we'll probably never find Yoshiro. Those men who took him probably killed him."

Mugen grabbed her wrist and yanked her around. "Don't _ever_ say that dying…"

"Well, it's a fact," Fuu said, "Just like you told when you agreed to help me in the first place…there aren't any other men would marry someone like me. So if he's dead…"

She didn't continue, but watched as Mugen wrapped her wrist with cloth from his shirt. When he was finished, she thanked him and turned back around, so that he couldn't see her tears.

Mugen went back to his spot by the tree and watched her lie back down. He could tell she was crying. She couldn't hide it well at all. The up and down movement of her shoulder…

They way her hand moved to wipe away the tears.

_Damn. _

_You were so close. Close enough to…_

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